Carbon steel pipelines transporting fluids containing elemental sulfur and/or polysulfides are known to be highly corrosive and extremely difficult to protect against corrosion. Typically, these highly sour systems are protected from pitting and general corrosion by adding large quantities of solvents which dissolve sulfur, or by adding corrosion inhibitor compositions. The corrosion inhibitor compositions and solvents can be expensive and if used in large quantities can give rise to various issues in the production system such as emulsification and foaming problems.
There is a continuing need for compositions effective in inhibiting corrosion in such highly corrosive environments.